Big Daddy
Sitemap Big Daddy Icon Of Rapture/BioShock * SEE ALSO Gatherers_and_Protectors * SEE ALSO Big Daddy A Cyborg * SEE ALSO Big Sisters * SEE ALSO Protectors_Too_Soon * SEE ALSO Point_Prometheus Where many were built * SEE ALSO Alphas Big Daddy Missions/Roleplay ? . . . . . . . . . . --- --- --- --- --- Big Daddies, Dumb Brutes ? Hardly... : Big Daddies could hardly be 'mindless slaves' with the functions they perform (It would be more along the lines of 'will' control). But nothing says that a Reward system cannot be used within the Big Daddy system of conditioning and motivation. Originally 'paying' them (CASH) would be a flexible way to do 'Rewards' (from before the later times when you basically can get free cash by pilfering corpses - and then also their being little to spend money on). They might simply use the money to buy the Little Sisters 'Treats' Good thing the LS teeth are indestructible/regenerate : "But Mr Bubbbllessss, I don't Whaaanna brush my teeth ...") Smokes, Booze, Potato Chips, Coffee, Little Sister Trading Cards, Air Fresheners... --- --- --- Those Old Style Canvas and Heavy Brass Diving Suits : You see lots of diving suits (near airlocks) that do not look like the 'Hard Suits' that the depths around Rapture (~600 feet down) would require. (Nitrogen narcosis beyond 100 feet and 300 feet is a normal 'safe' limit for a limited time at depth). But consider if there was a plasmid that alleviated the depth side-effects. Then some of the more cumbersome Hard Suits would not be needed (This would be long AFTER Rapture's initial building phase when plasmids did not yet exist). Of course this will not help the Citizens of "New Rapture" who are ex-Splicers (don't have any Plasmids) and will have to rely on the Hard Suits and Subs (as the original builders of Rapture did). Those conventional diving suits would likely have a City Bounty on them to be collected to deny their use to the unfriendly Splicers who could still use them (and for use in the shallow sections of the City - on Mt. Ryan close to the surface). --- --- --- REAL Divers DO Like Backups for Their Equipment ''' : Divers that work all day regularly don't really like to be terrorized by pending death, possible at the least 'slip up'. Actually something the game never hinted at : How large a crew a single diver has/needs (even with those old (Real) canvas Diving Gear) to allow them to operate (and do regular work). The Hardsuits required for deeper water (like Rapture's) required even more maintainers and technicians to keep operational. Fink getting HIS Sea Slugs probably didn't care so much for modern safety appliances. (But even HE could run out of 'workers' with how hazardous real diving is. --- --- --- '''Speculation - Big Daddy's Canon Clarity Undoing Story Warpage : The BD things predated 'Protectors' (logical with all the maintenance Rapture would require). The Buried at Sea 'first 5 minutes' video (pre-civil war) shows several Big Daddies at work, doing repairs (out in Ocean) and firing his big drill (point) like a grappling hook to pull himself to a different location (( '' I wonder who thought THAT one up... '' )). Pump-Pressurized Diving suits of that type (those are NOT hardsuits) don't allow a human to survive the pressure at the depths Rapture is at. They are also too big a volume for a normal human and would be really really heavy out of the water (like 600-800 lb for the BD's) which takes alot of strength to move, let alone work in. So a genetic mod like Brute strength Tonics minimum and also Tonics to prevent the Bends would be required for a 'diver'. Thus for the use shown, that kind of diving suit could NOT have been used to Construct the City -- except ONLY very close to the surface. "Big Daddy" was a later name it seems (Protector Project moniker), but whatever they were called (what we saw in that video, pre-Protector) at the time of the Kashmir Incident, the divers were most likely not quite human any more, but not necessarily as conditioned/modified as the 'Protectors' were (and for them we really don't know to what varying extent THE Big Daddies had free-will or consciousness/personality, etc.) For all you know, even in Lamb's time (BS2) you might go to the Big Daddy Depot and you find them sitting around a table playing cards. I figure that some of the early diving suit maintenance guys/workers seen were recycled insane people (whom there were alot more of by then thanks to Fontaine's ADAM products). These would be a cheaper alternative to more complex/expensive hardsuits. Later their form/equipment was used for the Protectors. As for carving up rocks, there would be big machines for doing that (of course by BS1 times most of the new construction had ceased). There would be lots of scraping jobs to which that 'drill' mechanism might be better fitted. Johnny Topside (real name unknown, and whom Ryan thought was a spy from 'The Surface) was locked up in Persephone (never specified how/why he managed to 'volunteer' to be a BD -- perhaps he was effective in belittling Sofia Lamb's philosophy and had to be 'eliminated' ...). Some inmates may have volunteered for 'experimentation' (to get out or for other rewards - better conditions). Many Splicers were messed up so much they may have been turned into BDs (instead of leaving them in an isolation tank for the rest of their lives). Sofia Lamb "volunteered" her own followers (or other uncooperative inmates ?) while in Persephone to curry favor to further her agenda. Meltzer (in BS2), who Lamb likely considered a danger to her projects, agreed to be a BD as a last chance to be with his daughter. Otherwise Sofia Lamb would have simply murdered him (as is shown she did to many others). The Time frame for this conversion was ridiculously accelerated to meet the game story, and more realistically would be a task of months (Similar to Sinclair's Daddification - also conveniently happening virtually instantly for the BS2 plot). Did other people earlier outside of Persephone volunteered for other reasons (like debilitating ill-health - like Handymen)? Then it is possible whoever was recruiting for BD service (Suchong Clinics for Fontaine) may have told the applicants whatever they wanted to hear. Who knows how many 'inconvenient' people Fontaine earlier had converted to BD (if the City was paying for 'Maintenance Workers'...) he then sold to the City ? Alot of this stuff, was kept vague as we barely got clues, and the story was obviously shaped to blame Ryan for everything. The MMORPG would elaborate more on these important characters - their history and existence in Rapture. --- --- --- Big Daddy Comes Running : When a Player shootout with a Splicer happens, a Big Daddy with no Little Sister will frequently run to the location and take a defensive stance (seen in BS1). Often when a Security alarm from a Scanner is tripped, they also will do that. You could reason that there might be damage from fighting requiring immediate maintenance (even though in the game the structure and machinery are invulnerable). --- --- --- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . --- --- --- Eleanor's (Telepathic) Link to Delta Should NOT be 'Psychic' (magic) -- IT Should Be Something Physically 'Real' ': Could be be a link using biological Plasmid mechanisms, (which could foreseeably operate like a radio interface into his brain - notice that she SENDS to us (Delta/Player), but we don't back to her). Actually WAS a Link into his Suits Radio Links ???? Eleanor may have links to alot more communication infrastructure (machines) to make this work (like transmitter boosters/relays on specific frequencies the Plasmids make use of). Some could consist of transmitted Audio/Visual stimulation via a Plasmid 'receiver' growth in the brain (connected to parts of brain which do those functions). After all, BDs likely got lots of such implant modifications to allow them to be centrally coordinated in their work (not exactly easy for them to use a 'pay phone'), as well as to operate their suits. There WOULD BE an in-suit radio (and TV camera apparently) and probably a HUD (with video) for the BDs used in their maintenance work (work orders, maps, etc..). Some of those Eleanor messages Delta got may have come in that form. BD conditioning might make what gets actually transmitted to us, and what Delta (and the BDs) see inside their skull, very different (ie- compatible with the delusional state BDs live in). Eleanor is asleep, not unconscious (OR PRETENDING to be asleep ?), but looks to remotely tie into a link (Little Sisters may have a similar brain interface/linker/transceiver - and Eleanor had been one (a LS) with the special conditioning link to one Big Daddy. It is also possible Eleanor managed to get some direct physical connection so some compatible apparatus (or something that expanded its capabilities - like devices which Sofia Lamb uses in her control of the Little Sisters/Big Sisters). The Little Sister Network ?? YOU get linked in BS2 to a Lil Sister -- Something like that could have been employed (and be the same for Eleanor, who used LS to setup the Vita Chamber Delta was revived in.) VERY LIKELY - Some of the visions/images Eleanor transmits to you may activate 'conditioning' from the brain scans (N-Grams) used to rebuild Delta's brain (SORRY - no 'quantum entanglement' (whatever that is) or DNA/RNA memories - too small a data set to build all a brains wiring of a personality for THAT idea to work). Eleanor could be (would be) clever enough to insert special images which would help convince Delta to come rescue her. --- --- --- '''BD = 'Monsters' or Just Misunderstood ? ' Possibly, like the Handymen, existence as a Big Daddy may have been sought by some disabled people. Part-machine workers in Rapture could also predate "Protectors" as undersea maintenance workers -- replacing normal 'human' divers in what in Real Life is very dangerous work - diving to extreme depths. Eventually, after being proven as a solution for the city maintenance, there could have been a program to utilize the City's Criminally Insane (more of these later after ADAM comes to Rapture), or even those who had become mindless vegetables in the population. Under Ryan's (variant) Objectivist Philosophy, there is no death penalty for crimes. So, do you Warehouse the criminals at public expense for the rest of their lives? (If violent, do you burn their brains out with lobotomies/electroshock like they did in those days in the Real World ??). Making them into controlled '''Cyborgs and having them do useful work for the City doesn't sound so horrible. We really don't know how much about what Personality/Will/Consciousness the Big Daddies may have retained (We have hints that they did). The story goes : the City then needed more of them to guard Little Sisters, and THAT caused more questionable 'volunteers' to be used to create those additions. Personally (as a smart solution to the 'protector' issue, unhampered by 'The Plot Says So'), I would have, instead, to solve the 'Protector' issue, had all the ADAM-laden corpses brought to some well-guarded Little Sister Fortresses (Heh, Recycling Rewards for 'turning-in' corpses -- with the double bonus of keeping the streets clean of smelly decaying health hazards). --- --- --- Hidden Ways Big Daddies Got Around Rapture : BDs (Maintenance Cyborgs) had to move materials/tools around (inside and outside) they used for repairs and maintenance * Drainage sub-levels (down where the airlocks usually are), Lots of Submarine-style pressure doors. * Sewer levels, with utility Trams (Security also used these as did the mundane maintenance workers) * Walking on the seafloor of course (airlocks in every building section) * Section maintenance storage areas * Big Daddy Depots where repair/maintenance was done on the Big Daddies themselves (its dim that they were dependent on LS - what about BEFORE the LS ever were 'Gathering' ? * Central Dispatching to maintenance assignments/emergencies * The BDs weren't so mind-dead that they couldn't travel via Submarines/Trams/Trains. --- --- --- Odd Things Happen : It was strange that : Due to a glitch in Rapture's Pneumo mail system, Big Daddies sometimes would continue to get their mail from their previous life. "OOOMMMPPPHHH GAAAAAKKKK" (Nothing But Bills Again !!!!) Hmm, interesting idea - how exactly might you be pursued for debts in Rapture, and would volunteering to become a Big Daddy be one way (for some) to escape that ?? (Booker, the debt-owing broken down drunk, might have been headed down that path ...) There probably would be a 'halfway' path to being modified as a "Deep Diver" (maintenance existed as a role long BEFORE the whole 'Protector' thing started) where the service Contractee got the modifications (ADAM and other stuff) done. --- --- --- Big Daddies Put HUMAN Maintenance Workers Out of Work !!! : Actually, Big Daddies could do things very difficult for human workers to do, and were also more cost-effective because their Plasmids/Tonics/whatever-else allowed them to work with significantly LESS expensive equipment than a normal human diver would need (The High Pressure Diving suits are quite expensive and remote control units are often clumsier/slower for certain tasks.) Alot of that played-up talk was from agitators trying to create difficulties for Ryan, which should have been countered by public demonstrations/announcement of what the reality was. (The "Cheaper, so I don't have to Raise your Rent" argument was fairly effective with the majority in Rapture. People also would have know where 'Big Daddies'/Maintenance Cyborgs actually came from - ADAM deranged humans - criminals making reparations for their crimes, etc...). --- --- --- Big Daddy Repair Mission - find spare parts (or machines to make parts) in a cache identified by records Another - would be (for a change) to help a Big Daddy instead of kill it. Go to it to make repairs/rescue it. Now you still might have some trouble communicating the fact you are there to help it (and some difficult missions may force you to overpower it, if it is particularly deranged/out of communication). Big Daddies were still being created fairly late by various factions (the availability of mind-gone Splicers was never a problem). At least some people realized that maintenance had to still get done. The group at Hephaestus probably made a deal with remnants of Fontaine's people in Point Prometheus to keep their Power & Heat on in return for properly programmed Maintenance Cyborgs (their original name) to work throughout the City. The Union of Fishermen in Neptunes Bounty probably were part of the deal to supply food as well. At Central Computing (Maintenance Central - a Thinker sub-system) assigns maintenance tasks to the Maintenance Cyborgs, and they are usually the ones that detected their own problems and made a request to 'Central' (as programmed) to get their required repairs. Many of the old maintenance Depots are running short of parts and personnel. Prestige Points are usually earned for assisting the City's repair infrastructure in this way. Similar Missions can include delivering materials or special equipment to some Big Daddy in a remote location to assist a particular repair (frequently it is an 'urgent' repair situation). ---- Drilling in Rock - Sorry - NOT That Thing -> That Big Daddy Drill IS JUST WRONG : Most rock, in RL, you drill and blast (explosives), and then clear the broken rock (shoveling). You use a Drill which is long narrow cylinder with cutting edge on its tip. (EVEN Chalk, which is VERY soft, would STILL foul that large conical shaped 'drill') That BD Drill spiral shape is perfect for getting stuck in rock, with the BD getting jerked and the Drill thingee wedged-in real nicely. The user having to reverse and torqued to un-stick itself -- continuously (you thus don't get much work done AT ALL). That's a VERY Nice HUGE cutting surface, perfect to disperse/waste force, and have maximize sticking friction (( '' Seriously, there could NOT have been a worse design to have, to FAIL. '' )) Chipping/abrading rock off a small surface, maybe, for as long as the power is available ... Wherever that comes from : * Compressed Air ? - it has to vent to ocean already at a high pressure, making it inefficient. * Combustion ? - fuel AND air storage is required - possibly (I cover this issue elsewhere). (Its supposed to work OUT in the Ocean) * Electric Battery - quite limited capacity for that kind of extended high-HP work. So its pretty problematic for THAT part of the design (if it even was a proper drill bit). Proper cutting requires significant bracing to force the tool's cutting surface strongly against the rock being 'shaved'. The BD just isn't big enuf for that. Much larger automated machines (even Plasma Cutters) would be needed to do any significant 'rock' work (as in any large volume) to do work 'expanding the city'. Foundations and anchors go deep into the selected hard/strong rock. Chipping/cleaning/unclogging accumulating sea life (much softer and/or brittle) OUT of tubes/pipes or off/across a flat surface (like the inside of a large concrete tube the BD walks into) -- THAT is much easier, but 'drilling' tools still must be powered, and when portable have to be recharged frequently (same thing could largely be accomplished with an oversized putty knife, though it wouldn't look as 'Cool') Drill - Probably is NOT applicable for cleaning windows. That Thing might marginally be useful for stirring cement, but is an inefficient/clumsy shape for that. Best use - for scaring and possibly grinding up/impaling humans (where its 'sticking' friction is actually an advantage). I think something even more frightening could have been managed (and you could eliminate making believe it did maintenance work with such a strange and flawed tool). --- --- --- Do Big Daddies Have Gun Cameras On Their Suits ? ''' : * TV camera similar to the Flybot Vision (use for their remote control, with or without a 'smart' system) * It might make some amusing Asset recording 'films' for the MMORPG (with crude low framerate) * Watch the Splicer crap its chaps (as per recording played back later) * Used for Development and Training films - most certainly used while the Big Daddy conditioning was being developed * You get to play the Big Daddy in the Role Playing aspect of the MMORPG * Malfunctioning guns or firing issues to get back with to the Boffins (and same for other equipment) * Actually go thru the training grounds again - a little more comprehensively this time * Comments from the 'live' handlers ... "No No Igor aim more to the left!!!" * You can playback your mission 'highlights' ---- MaintenanceCyborg.jpg|Hard Suit deep diving unit Moonscape.jpg|Big Daddies in Moon Rapture ... Divinggearmk5.jpg|Real Diving Gear BuildingRapture.jpg|Try getting something done in this Betterdrill2.jpg|Closer but still NOT what a drill needs to be EarlyHardsuit.jpg|Early Hardsuit(keeps water pressure out) Bioshock2014.jpg|modern Hard Suit - complex/expensive/dangerous even today LusitaniaDiver.jpg|1935 Diver Suit used to salvage Lusitania at ~300 foot depth. Lusitaniadiver2.jpg|Suit on the right can only go down to about 150 feet TOOTHHURTS.jpg|What IS under those suits ? --- --- --- '''Create a Big Daddy Language : Kindof like the Trekkies did with Klingon ( I smell another Game Asset Type ... ) Needs Phonetic - Language is Not Written down OOOOMpphhhhh (Fricken Useless tools !!) MMMMRRRROOOOOOMMMMMM (WTF are you doing ???) (('' NOTE - BDs Swear Alot '' )) NNNNNNNMMMMMMMMMM (This is NOT going to end well) AAHHHHROOOOOOOOOOO (WTF has my Little Sister gotten into ?) MMMMMMMMM (Why is it always me ?) Gaaaah Woooooooonnnnn (Hello Control, I need my next assignment) Thoooooooooonnnnnnnn ('Whats up Man' - to another Big Daddy) --- --- --- Big Daddies come Running When an Alarm Sounds : I've seen this in BS1 (Security Scanner alarms and a BD comes running and stands there looking around). So they must've had some role in security, or very similar alarms are used when there is a maintenance hazard like larger leaks... They (BDs) don't appear to be effected much by fire, so they also might be used for basic firefighting (that's a good idea when you have limited air and toxic smoke doesn't just blow away into an endless open sky). --- --- --- Food goes into a Big Daddy, but .... : Simply a practical matter. Consider also that some amount of oxidizer likewise is combined (chemical reaction - burning food) to product biological energy - which increases the mass of the 'byproduct'.... Yes, that's right - "If a Big Daddy shits in the forest (of Arcadia) does it make a sound ????" (these are questions the MMORPG MUST answer !!!) So 'facilities' of various sorts for Big Daddy operations are obviously needed (do you really want to be finding the otherwise required results on the sidewalks of Rapture ?????) Hmm. Consider what eventually happens in the City when the maintenance of these 'facilities' breaks down ... I don't recall any Little Sister comments about 'doodie'.... Is this necessary in the MMORPG game??? Did Tolkien even once make a reference or even indirectly allude to anyone in his books 'taking a dump' ??? I haven't read all his works, so I can't say. --- --- --- Ryan's Home for Retired Big Daddies (in New Rapture at Least) : But then they might not want to retire as they have this conditioned behavior to fix things (one eventually runs out of shelves to put up ...). Does the 'Daddy' age any more ?? But they can 'burn out'. Perhaps a change of career ? (NOT work in a daycare center). Sitting around the card table reminiscing about 'that Big Leak', or the funny thing that one Little Sister did ... --- --- --- MiniTurret.jpg|Some Big Daddies Fling These nasty things near you --- --- --- Shows that little is original in this world. --- --- --- Bouncer Big Daddy Bad Posture, Causing Problems : That bent posture ... Backache Tonics ... Hmmm, with all the other Tonics and Plasmids for curing various malady in Rapture (sold as consumer goods), possibly one of the Best Selling was a 'cure' for the chronic backache which so many people are burdened with ('ergonomic' hadn't really been invented yet...). Now just thinking about jamming that big needle syringe into your Back might make some people cringe (is 'in the arm' all that much better ??) , but if you've ever had a real back problem, you would know that the pain of such ailments can be far worse. Idea for product improvement - orally administered Tonics and Plasmids (or later a patch?? or 'gum' or gelcaps...) Hmm, new line of Plasmid/Tonics for kids - via lollipop. --- --- --- ' "Drill, WRONG !!!!" ' : Scene we should have seen - A Big Daddy sticking a Splicer with its 'drill' (that rotary tool is actually a "Gunk Scraper", but that doesn't sound as neat), and the Splicer spinning around, probably shrieking (it would seize-up/get-stuck/jam in flesh/clothing almost as easily as it would if stuck into rock -- except in rock it would be the BD that would start to spin if the motor had enough torque). A proper 'Drill' would cut a clean hole not much more than an inch wide (a REAL typical rock drill size ...) This would be in preparation for Explosive Charges to fracture a volume of rock. * Daddy 'Air Wrench' for tightening Nuts on Bolts (lots of structures 'shift', so need adjustments) * Daddy Welding Rig (that could DO YOU pretty good also - a large cutting torch might cause a steam explosion in a body) * Daddy Glue Injector (for fixing leaks)- the epoxy glue being injected under high pressure against the ocean-water pressure (when done from the inside upto 300lb/sq in). Lots of minor hairline cracks and leaks in structures would need plugging ... * Daddy equipped with a Plasma Cutter (for effective rock cutting) - which requires big cables going back to a hookup to an Electric Utility port with power routed to it). * Window Cleaning attachment (after scraping the major Gunk off, a finer touch is needed to restore window transparency). * A Rake/scoop for raking out the broken rock the drill was used to dynamite and fracture/loosen (or other clutter/junk). --- --- --- Big Daddy Training (a Flashback Role-playing Thingee) : Skills are not something you can just 'condition for' (remember the Training Grounds) * Structural Repairs, inside and outside in the sea (hmm, must've been a separate 'training grounds' for this we never saw - will have to add that to that level map). * Utility Maintenance (high voltage is something you don't mess around with) * Cleaning windows (all that algae stuff that loves the light that comes out of Rapture windows...) - That with all the Braniacs in Rapture, NOONE ever figured out how to make a self cleaning window ??) Perhaps trained sea-slugs ??? --- --- --- Little Details (Are Important) : Interesting Idea : To have Big Daddies hum along with some of the music that plays in various places in Rapture (Just because they are mutant brutes doesn't mean they lose all of their humanity). This Idea came hearing "How Much Is That Doggy In The Window" playing in Point Prometheus, and my hearing a Big Daddy off in the distance at the same time. --- --- --- Life as a Big Daddy : Big Daddies weren't always so 'big'. Incapacitated criminals/psychotics fell into the wardship of the City (long before ADAM was discovered), and instead of simply warehousing them at Persephone (or worse dumping them on the streets), they were 'pacified' and conditioned to function in a somewhat normal way. To not be a burden on Rapture, many were found to be trainable for various maintenance tasks, and with improvements in relevant Plasmids/Tonics, could be utilized for various hazardous/difficult work situations. ADAM-based Pressure Resistance advancements allowed use of ordinary diving suits at Rapture's depth (which otherwise requires expensive Hard Suits for normal humans or clumsy remote control of repair vehicles). More than a few of these 'Helpers' never wore the heavy armored BD diving suits, instead had other protective clothing/equipment (possibly also employed to cover up deformities). A cyborg is a combination of human and machine, and a number of the 'Helpers' were assisted by mechanical contrivances to allow them to function, or to facilitate their work. Citizens of Rapture often did not see these maintenance helpers/cyborgs as they inhabited and worked in the lower sub-street levels/basements/foundations, and used the utility passages to move about the City. In the daylight they often worked in closed off areas, or worked at night when there were few normals around to get in their way. ((( Yes, under Lothlorien, there is the hidden slave city.... You didn't expect Elves to scrub their OWN toilets, did you ?? ))) A company (later controlled by Fontaine, and later became Failsafe Armored Escorts under 'nationalization')which may have started processing ADAM damaged people fairly early, taking some of the botched/insane experimental subjects dumped by Fontaine's researchers. Other permanently exiled inmates from Persephone were recruited when additional 'Protectors' were required because of their casualties in the Civil War chaos. Not all the Big Daddies were mindless automatons. Varying levels of consciousness, sanity and will remained in many of them. Big Daddy Delusional mindscape - possibly better than rotting in a prison cell (?) : A selection of fantasy settings could be chosen to facilitate the mundane and repetitive tasks the Cyborgs performed. Example - A Tropical Paradise Vision : * Walking the beach, in the surf, through the verdant jungle * Picking coconuts, fishing with a pole, rowing a canoe * Walking with native girls who went around picking flowers, tropical birds flitting about * Drinking a beer at the beach shacks * Fighting cannibals attacking the peaceful island inhabitants All implanted images of a pleasant calming environment, when the reality was toiling away shoveling out sewers, patching leaks, scrubbing toilets, taking Little Sisters on their ghoulish walks, and fighting off Splicers. --- --- --- What is Drill Fuel ? : ''' '''NOTE - Fuel requires an Oxidizer to 'burn'. The Following assumes that requirement is being met when a 'Drill' is used out in the Ocean. Compressed methane or heavier gasses synthesized from methane which you can get from processing garbage or biological byproduct materials. Possibly. Butane liquefies at room temp ... Hydrogen usually is too bulky or too cold as a liquid. Ethanol would be good, as it is well understood, and can be made from agricultural products within Rapture. Not Oil ? Rapture is supposed to be built on a volcanic site (igneous rocks are not known for containing oil/fossil fuels) and around it is ocean depths 3000 ft and deeper, with a similar rock makeup (a tectonic spreading zone, where igneous rocks come up from the mantle). I looked to find the nearest ocean oil drilling site to Rapture, which is about 500 miles away North-ish of Iceland. Does this fuel use warrant a major facility located that far away? just to run some power tools ? Possibly the Trains/Bathyspheres/Subs (with their bigger fuel consumption) also used the same fuel, whichever it was. The drill tool requires a motor driven by whatever power source. Fuel burned with an oxidizer in an engine like a Chainsaw or Leaf-blower for example. A bit of modification is needed to work in a range of pressures. The exhaust has to be expelled into water (if used out there) against the pressure of whatever depth Rapture really is (I would make it ~600 feet to not be too much - but that's still 20 Atm pressure). You'd have to allow for widely varying the compression in the cylinders (or possible turbine), but the combustion pressure can be up around 100 Atm allowing that to still work. Maybe its just food pellets for ADAM-modified Hamsters in a running wheel, by that time... Or a hand turned 'Peppermill' gun mechanism, like that Gatling gun in Infinite BS's Columbia (oops, sorry this isn't supposed to be Fantasy). --- --- --- Speculation On Big Daddies : The BD Things Predated 'Protectors' (Logical With All the Maintenance Rapture Would Require). They had another name since Suchongs 'staff' seem (mentioned in game) to have later coined the term "Big Daddy" (because of the pairing with/attachment to Little Sisters). 'Diver Dans' (McDonaghs name for them)/Cyborg Maintenance Workers/etc ... The Buried at Sea 'first 5 minutes' video (pre-civil war) shows several Cyborg Maintenance Workers at work, doing repairs (out in Ocean), and another firing his big Drill (point) like a grappling hook to pull himself to a different location (I wonder who thought THAT one up ...). Pump-Pressurized Diving suits of that type (those aren't pressure-resistant hardsuits) don't allow a human to survive the pressure at the depths Rapture is at. They are also too big a volume for a normal human and would be really really heavy (600-800lb with all those tanks and equipment) which takes alot of strength to move about in, let alone work in (or walk/do anything out of the water). So genetic mods (like Brute strength Tonics minimum, if not also Tonics to prevent the Bends) would be required for one of THOSE 'divers'. The type shown, divers equipped like this, couldn't have been used to Construct the City (its a canvas suit at water pressure) except ONLY the parts VERY close to the water's surface (generally within 150 feet). "Big Daddy" was a later name it seems (Protector Project moniker), but whatever they were called (what we saw in that video, pre-Protector) at the time of the Kashmir Incident, the divers were most likely not quite human any more, but not necessarily as conditioned/modified as the 'Protectors' were (and we really don't know to what varying extent THE Big Daddies had free-will or consciousness/personality, etc.) For all you know, even in Lamb's time (BS2) you go to the Big Daddy Depot and you'd find them sitting around a table playing cards. I figure that some of the diving suit maintenance guys/workers seen were recycled criminally insane Citizens (whom there were alot more of by then thanks to Fontaine's poisonous ADAM products). Later, their form/equipment was used for the Protectors. As for carving up rocks, there would be big machines for doing that (of course by BS1 times most of the new construction had ceased). There would be lots of scraping jobs to which that 'drill' mechanism might be better (actually) fitted. Johnny Topside (real name unknown, and whom Ryan thought was a spy from 'The Surface) was locked up in Persephone (its was never specified how he managed to 'volunteer' to be a BD - possibly Sofia Lamb 'Volunteered' him ...). Some inmates may have volunteered for 'experimentation' (to get out or for better treatment) and then were messed up so much by it they may have been turned into BDs (instead of leaving them in an isolation tank for the rest of their lives). Sofia Lamb did "volunteered" her own followers (or other inmates uncooperative to her?) while in Persephone to further her agenda. Mark Meltzer (of Something In The Sea fame), who Sofia Lamb considered a danger to her delusional projects, agreed to be a BD as a last chance to be with his daughter. Otherwise Sofia Lamb would have simply murdered him (as is shown she did to many others). Did others earlier outside of Persephone volunteered for other reasons (like debilitating ill-health - like Handymen) ? Then it is possible whoever was recruiting for BD service may have told the applicants whatever they wanted to hear. Who knows how many 'inconvenient' people Fontaine earlier had converted to BD (if the City was paying for 'Maintenance Worker' "Volunteers" ...) Alot of this stuff, we barely got clues about ( 'Vague' details) , and the story was obviously shaped to blame Ryan for everything. - Contrary to anecdotal evidence (obviously forced to create an intended anti-Ryan impression upon the Players), It was not clear that Ryan's men were doing the Little Sister kidnappings. A large number of earlier LS were 'orphans' from Fontaine's orphanages and already implanted with Sea Slugs for ADAM generation (and others which didn't work out were 'DISPOSED' of ...). If indigent parents put them there, their reaction to having their daughters turned into glowy-eyed slug-symbionts doesn't seem to EVER have been mentioned. Those LS were already existing when Ryan 'nationalized' Fontaine Futuristics, and there must have been very many of them to supply so much ADAM. How many 'new' Little Sisters were created (?) isn't really mentioned (just some incidents of 'kidnappings'). Other ADAM producing operations (bootleggers) may not have had the scruples which Ryan later (post-SEIZING) would have had, and how many of the kidnappings might be attributed to them also isn't known/shown/important to the writer's narrative. (Vague, Vague ... Vague .) --- --- --- Alpha (BD) Weirdness : The distinctive tied-on suit-weight and Divers Knife pix If anything you wouldn't want, it is MORE weight with all the stuff the BDs carry on their backs (the original canvas type suits had no tanks, instead had an airline from the surface). The real use of that knife allows cutting the rope holding the weight, in an emergency, causing the air filled suit to gain buoyancy and rise to the surface - something pointless for a Big Daddy. Makes me wonder if the game asset designers even knew what these things were, and instead, they simply copied them ignorantly from picture of old-time divers. They also have made the suits with barnacles growing on the cloth (canvas and flexible) sections of the suit, which wouldn't happen. Another problem would be that with all that equipment mounted so high up on their bodies, that they would be top heavy which would make them particularly clumsy out of the water. Hanging alot of that stuff lower might have been more realistic (as would making it flatter and have less bits that get stuck/catch on things). Need to see at least one Daddy Suit stuck somewhere fatally. And one hopes the MMORPG Player's Diving Suits are better done. --- --- --- Big Daddies Post-BS2 : After BS2 there could still be quite a few Big Daddies wandering about (and Little Sisters too). Rapture is a large place, and we saw only a small part of it (in all the games combined). Delta apparently is killed in BS2, but that is not for certain (and he could yet be revived again, as he was once already - couldn't he? WE CAN REBUILD HIM!!! THE $69,000 MAN ...). DNA might be only part of what was needed. Delta was a special case, being a test subject for the Protector program, and they may have had alot more research stuff/recordings/samples/brain patterns from him, which made him more unique (Resurrection-wise). It also took Eleanor's efforts to make it happen (and alot of help from Little Sisters and maybe their cooperative Big Daddies). Besides the point that the last we see of him is his body drifting back down to Rapture and its many Vita Chambers. There are doubtless more Alphas somewhere (seemed like too many for a 'failed' model). The cyborgs that do city maintenance wouldn't likely be attacked much (with no Little Sister full of tasty ADAM to draw the Splicers) and there would have been many of those. Even while the Schrodinger's Sofia was in a state of being drowned/not-drowned, Big Daddies and Little Sisters still probably roamed the rest of Rapture -OR* maybe they (the Factions) got smart and had the Maintenance Cyborgs bring the corpses to a safe protected location for the ADAM recovery (assuming there was that much ADAM still to recover, or sufficient corpses any longer). --- --- --- Plausiblity of the Big Daddies - Can a human survive having a diver's suit grafted on to them? And what are the suits made of ? : A Big Daddy is a cyborg (part human, part machine, joined/grafted together). The suit in itself doesn't have to be strong to contain pressure as the inside of the suit is nearly the same as the outside water pressure (its the Big daddy that has to be able withstand that). Its acting as armor is something else and for it to be flexible, those parts cannot block too much damage. Some of the later BD suits look more like knight's armor. Assume they have been made using the ADAM genetic tech and other medical tech that Rapture's genius created to solve several problems : * For the Grafting - tissue/foreign body rejection issues for attached mechanisms - the treatment/whatever that keeps their tissue from reacting significantly. Not sure to what extent the 'grafting is done. Structural reinforcements, control mechanisms, metabolism, waste disposal. Interface between the living and non-living parts of the whole have to be accomplished. * For the BD Diving Suit problems (we've seen them out in the ocean) - those are not pressure-resisting Hardsuits that maintain normal pressure, they are closer to the conventional flexible "diving dress" (real ones are rubberized canvas) that you pressurize the inside air to just over the outside water pressure (around 19 atmospheres of pressure at only 600 feet). That is actually well beyond safe/survivable (sea pressure) scuba diving -- 150-200 ft max for humans ). "The Bends" (google it) would happen when the Daddy comes back inside, and the pressure is lowered to the 1 atmosphere inside Rapture. You also get the pressure change effect simply by moving between different depths. I would not put Rapture too deep or the materials/technical problem increase geometrically for any practicality. (The six miles under the ocean or 5000 fathoms (30000ft down) uttered by Atlas in BaS2 are utter fantasy and simply 'good' sounding rubbish.) So the Daddy needs some Tonic/Plasmid to sweep gases out of its blood rapidly for that transition (or to mitigate the effects some other way) to prevent the air bubbles which form in the blood from shutting down its vascular system. * Then there is the strength to move in that very heavy suit, when out of water (suit plus tanks and tools and their power systems/weapons and those weights to keep it from floating from displacement buoyancy) that may weigh MANY hundreds of pounds (600-800 total weight from what the suits full displacement looks like). Add the lifting of tools and the other manipulations BDs do in their normal work. That would require Strength Tonics (we've seen in-game) to super grow muscles and bones to support/move that weight. To power that physiology the digestive system/vascular/etc.. would also have to be enlarged/made more efficient - bulky/bigger body size means squeezing into the suit (closely or the suit volume gets bigger/heavier and the body needs to carry that suit volumes equivalent in water weight, requiring even more weight, then more strength, etc...) * Add whatever mental conditioning (possibly reinforced via Plasmids/tomics/other) needed for the Big Daddy to operate/behave as it does (it is still capable of recognizing problems and carrying out solutions using many skills, handling tools to make repairs -- that all takes coordinated actions and planning, previous training, etc.. ) and to intelligently take direction for tasks AND also to act independently much of the time (its not a remote control robot). * The mechanical part of the diving suit has to hold sufficient oxygen for a normal work cycle (time to get outside/walk to work location/do some work/get back to wherever to recharge, all with a good safety margin - preferably more than 60 minutes of work each cycle). With its larger/greater energy burning physiology, perhaps some Tonic/Plasmid (or other) helps to make its respiration more efficient. In Rapture's interior, the Big Daddy can make use of the available air directly (and even recharge/renew whats in its storage system?), while getting done whatever inside work it does (including babysitting Little Sisters). * Power - I haven't figured out if there is any 'Power Assist' for the BDs main body actions. Some combustion power source? I'm not sure that can work when in that high sea water pressure -- such a system has to exhaust to the outside of the suit. So batteries/electrics might be the only workable solution - most likely so limited that its really only used for the tools and control equipment. A hardsuit with a normal human in it has alot of problems - it has less flexible joints and weighs alot, so that you generally need a crane to take you out of the water. They are also more complex and expensive. --- --- --- BD Tool : Glue Gun : An attachment to the Daddy's (Maintenance Cyborg) Rivet Gun would be used to forcefully drive Epoxy Cement (Glue) deep into cracks in concrete walls to make temporary repairs (to await more extensive rebuilding to fix the structural defects). Unfortunately after The Kashmir Incident, most heavy repairs ended, leaving the Big Daddies' stop-gap repairs as the only corrections being made. The Epoxy was formulated to set almost instantly of being 'fired', so that any pressure would have no chance to force it out of the cracks/leaks it was applied to. This might make an interesting addition to the various weapons in Rapture, where near-instant setting glue can be used to pin opponents (at least for a while - or 'gum them up' ), as well as use on other objects (like glueing a door shut), as well as for repairs of various kinds. --- --- --- --- --- . .